System and process for mass telephony conference call

ABSTRACT

A method of controlling conference calls includes initiating a conference call between multiple conferees using a conferencing controller, placing each of the multiple conferees in a listen only mode using the conferencing controller, receiving a signal at the conferencing controller from a plurality of the conferees requesting active participation in the conference call, displaying a list of the plurality of conferees requesting active participation in the conference call, receiving from a user a selection of one of the plurality of conferees who have requested active participation in the conference call, and placing the one of the plurality of conferees in a talk mode using the conferencing controller. The method may also include monitoring a connection between the conferencing controller and a controlling application and notifying an operator if the connection is disrupted.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/350,194, filed Feb. 8, 2006, which is a continuation-in-partof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/954,837 filed Sep. 30, 2004,which is a conversion of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/510,925filed Oct. 14, 2003, all of which are herein incorporated by referencein their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to telephony systems. More particularlythe invention relates to a system and method for initiating andcontrolling conference calls through any telecommunications or mediasystem.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The disclosure of this invention will focus on its application in thetraditional telephone system. This is done for the sake of clarity andbrevity, since describing the application of this invention in each ofthe other telecommunication systems would be needlessly tedious. It willbecome clear to a person reasonably skilled in this art that the methodsdescribed in this disclosure can be applied similarly to anycommunication system, including wireless communication systems includingthose using radio connections.

Several methods are currently in use for establishing a telephoneconference call. These include:

1. Prearrange a time when each conferee will dial a specified phonenumber to join a conference call. At the prearranged time, as eachconferee makes a connection to the specified phone number, they areautomatically joined to a conference call that is already operationalbefore any conferees have joined.

2. A call administrator manually dials each target conferee, placingeach contacted conferee on hold while attempting to contact theremainder of the target conferees. Then, when all conferees have beencontacted, the call administrator causes them all to be simultaneouslybridged into the conference call via features available in a local PBXor telephony switch system.

3. A method described in 2 above, wherein a computerized system replacesthe call administrator, performing the same functions automatically.

In method 1 (above), the process is semi-coordinated in that aprearranged time is used as a target connection time for each conferee.One problem with this approach is that it relies on the conferees toremember the exact prearranged time of the call. It also relies on theexpectation that each of the conferees will initiate their connection tothe conference call at the same time (any delay by one or more confereesto initiate dialing will delay the effective start time of theconference call). This approach also assumes that all of the targetconferees' time clocks are precisely synchronized (even a few minutes ofdifference between clocks can delay the effective start time of theconference call). Another disadvantage of this approach is that,intentionally or unintentionally, uninvited participants can beconnected into the conference call at any time during the call. Oneadvantage to this approach is that the process of initiating theconference call is parallel in nature. This can reduce the amount oftime required to connect all of the conferees to the conference call.Unfortunately, this approach's parallel activity is uncoordinated andrelies on the memories and attentiveness of each of the targetconferees. Thus, problems remain with this approach.

In method 2 (above), the manual process of serially dialing even a fewconferees is tedious, time consuming and error prone. If a significantnumber of conferees are included, this process becomes completelyimpractical due to the amount of time required to contact the entirelist of conferees before the conference call can start. One benefit ofhaving a person manually dial each of the target conferees is that theperson has the ability to detect and correct errors on the conferee list(wrong or disconnected phone number, etc.). This person can alsodetermine in real time whether the correct person has answered thephone, whether or not an answering machine or voicemail has beenreached, whether the connection time has become unreasonable orunusually long and, finally, whether or not the target conferee acceptsthe invitation to the conference call. Another advantage of having aperson manually dial each target conferee is that the person can redialthe conferee if their connection is lost and it is known that theconferee wishes to continue to participate in the conference call. Thus,problems remain with this approach.

In method 3 (above), the automation of the dialing process removes thetedious dialing task from a human, and reduces the time required tocontact the entire list of conferees. However, the dialup process isstill serial, thereby incurring the unavoidable accumulation of delaysassociated with contacting each conferee.

Many systems exist for automatically initiating and controllingconference calls. Even the most automated of these systems, however,invariably uses the same basic process to initiate a conference call.The basic process includes the serial steps of:

1. Dialing a conferee (from among those found on a list of targetconferees).

2. If contact is made with the target conferee, making a connectionbetween that conferee and the pending conference call.

3. After these first steps are completed, the process is repeated forthe next conferee on the list.

This continues until all of the target conferees have been contacted andconnected to the conference call. At this point, the conference call canbegin.

As described below, this serial dialup process has severaldisadvantages.

The first disadvantage of the serial dialup process is that theconference call is stalled (with participants waiting on hold) while theremaining conferees are being connected to the call. Since the timerequired for each connection to a conferee may be several seconds(typically 5 or 6 seconds before the dialed number even begins ringing),when the quantity of conferees exceeds 20 the conferee who was contactedfirst is required to wait up to 2 minutes before the call becomesoperational. This may seem insignificant, but as the quantity ofconferees rises, the delay associated with contacting all of theconferees rises proportionally. When a massive list of conferees is used(as occurs when a conference call is used to disseminate a corporateannouncement), this delay becomes burdensome. For instance, if aconference call is intended to reach 5000 employees of a company, thecumulative connection delay could exceed 7 hours (assuming an averageconnection time of 5 seconds per conferee). This makes the serial dialupapproach impractical for this application (or any other mass telephonyconference application).

A second disadvantage of existing conference call initiation processesis that statistics are not kept that can be used to make subsequentconference calls to the same conferees more efficient. For instance, ifa target conferee changes their phone number, time is wastedunsuccessfully attempting to contact them at their old phone number. Notonly does this waste time and resources, it can potentially annoysomeone who has since acquired the old phone number.

Yet another disadvantage of existing conference call initiation systemsis the inherent risk of using a single dial-out source (telephony switchor PBX). Should this switch fail (or its connections to the PSTN fail),the successful completion of the conference call becomes impossible.

Another significant disadvantage of current conference call initiationsystems is that there is no mechanism for determining whether aconferee, who has disconnected from the conference call in progress,desires to be reconnected to the call.

From this explanation it can be seen that a method and article areneeded for reducing the amount of time required to connect an entirelist of target conferees to a conference call. It can also be seen thatthere is a need for a conference call system that is not vulnerable to afailure of a single telephony switch or that switch's networkconnections. Further, it can be seen that there is a need for aconference call system that automatically gathers and analyzesstatistics of a conference call in order to improve the efficiency ofthe conference call initiation process for subsequent conference calls.It can also be seen that there is a need for a conferencing controlsystem that can determine whether a connection should be joined to theconference call based on predefined parameters and detected conditions.It can finally be seen that there is a need for a conferencing controlsystem that can determine whether a disconnected conferee should bereconnected to the conference call by either automatically out dialingto the conferee, or by allowing the conferee to dial a predefined phonenumber, and after being revalidated, be reconnected to the call.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object, feature, or advantage of the presentinvention to provide a method for dramatically reducing the timerequired to notify a group of target conferees and incorporate them intoa conference call.

It is another object, feature, or advantage of this invention to providea method and article for initiating a conference call, wherein theprocess includes allowing a target conferee to validate that they arethe appropriate party, then accept or reject an invitation to aconference call, the response of the target conferee being recorded andlater used (along with other factors) to determine whether that confereeshould be auto-reconnected or allowed to reconnect to an ongoingconference call when connection has been lost to that conferee.

It is yet another object, feature, or advantage of the invention toprovide an article and method for automatically redialing a conferencecall participant who has been disconnected, yet has indicated a desireto participate in the entire conference call. This object also includesthe ability of the invention to detect a predefined disconnect signalfrom a conferee, the signal indicating that the conferee chooses tovoluntarily disconnect from an ongoing conference call, thus indicatingthat the conferee should not be automatically reconnected to the ongoingcall.

It is also an object, feature, or advantage of the invention to providean article and method for preventing call answering automation systemsfrom becoming connected to a conference call, as well as for preventinguninvited parties from joining a conference call.

It is yet another object, feature or advantage of the invention toprovide a conferencing controller that automatically detects aconnection failure that is due to busy signals, “telephone numberchanged” or “telephone number disconnected” (or similar) messages whenattempting to connect to a specific target conferee. This conferencingcontroller then records this information in association with thespecific target conferee to prevent further attempts to connect to thesame target conferee via the same contact phone number or digitaladdress, and alerts the conferencing controller's users that thisspecific target conferee's contact information should be updated.

It is further an object, feature, or advantage of this invention toprovide an article and method for automatically storing conference callactivity statistics, such as call initiation start time, operationalconference call start and end times, individual conferee connection anddisconnect times, the telecommunications resources associated with eachconferee's connection, any failures associated with attempting tocontact each conferee, along with many other useful statistics.

An additional object, feature or advantage of the invention is toprovide a method for automatically analyzing these gathered statisticsto establish decision-making criteria that can be used to increase theefficiency, coordination and speed of subsequent attempts to contactconferees.

It is additionally an object of the invention to provide an article andmethod that makes statistical system performance data available toexternal processes for analysis and billing purposes.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an article andmethod for reducing vulnerability to a single point of failure in theavailable telephony resources.

A further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is toprovide for playing a message and using an auto operator to allow anattendee to a teleconference to join the conference call.

A still further object, feature, or advantage of the present inventionis to provide the ability for an attendee on a conference call toindicate that they wish to be placed in a queue to ask a question.

Yet another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is toprovide for continuous dialing.

A still further object, feature, or advantage of the present inventionis to provide a system and process for mass conference calls that can beused in the context of radio connections.

Another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is toallow participants in a conference call to actively participate throughproviding one or more keypresses in response to a poll.

Yet another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is toallow additional participation in a conference call through broadcastingof the conference call such as over radio or a computer network.

A further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is toprovide for initiating connections with additional conferees after theconference call has begun.

A still further object, feature, or advantage of the present inventionis to monitoring a connection to determine if the connection is lostsuch that dialing ceases and the conference call can be cancelled ordelayed.

Another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is toallow a speaker or another to select the next conferee to talk so as tochange topic of discussions, hear from geographically diverseindividuals, or for other reasons.

One or more of these and/or other objects, features and advantages areobtained in a teleconferencing control system that can be positioned inany location that provides connectivity to selected telephony resourceseither via the Internet or other data communications networks. Thisteleconferencing control system stores a list of target conferees'contact phone numbers and/or digital connection addresses. When aconference call is initiated by this teleconferencing control system, acomputer, using an intelligent, coordinated, parallel distributeddialing approach, having controlling access to multiple paralleltelephony resources, selectively assigns available telephony resourcesfor each out dial to a target conferee (this selection is based on thephone number or digital address of the target conferee, the location ofthe target telecommunications device, system load-balancingrequirements, the known quality of the selected telephony resources andthe predicted connection delay known to be associated with the selectedtelephony resources).

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the teleconferencing controlsystem comprises a data network server computer that will host theconference call, handling inter-conferee information exchange in thedigital domain. This data network server, in the preferredconfiguration, is connected in parallel through multiple data networksto multiple voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) telephony gateways(though a single data path to a single VoIP gateway will suffice). Thisteleconferencing control system stores a list of target conferees foreach conference call, instigating a simultaneous, parallel, distributedout dialing of the target conferees upon detection of a manual trigger,or automatically at a predefined time or upon detection of a set ofspecified trigger conditions.

This teleconferencing control system, for each conferee on the list,initiates a connection attempt through selected telephony resources.Instead of waiting for connection to a conferee before proceeding (as iscurrently done in the art), the present invention, in a parallel fashionthrough multiple telephony resources, initiates the dialing of multipleconferees simultaneously. Preferably, connection attempts to all targetconferees are started at precisely the same time, or with a coordinatedtiming that is automatically adjusted per target conferee to account forvariations in known connection delays associated with selected telephonyresources. In this manner, the entire target conferee base is connectedsubstantially simultaneously to the conference call. It is to beunderstood that connecting substantially simultaneous or substantiallyat the same time does not require that the connection, be made at theexact and precise time, but rather such that it appears to besimultaneous or substantially simultaneous to the conferees. The terms“simultaneous” and “substantially simultaneous” exclude sequentialattempts to connect.

The selection of the telecommunications resources to use for out dialinga given conferee is determined based on an algorithm that factors in:

1. The location of the conferee's phone.

2. The predicted telephony resource loading.

3. The costs associated with the selected connection route.

4. The type of system through which the conferee will be connected.

-   -   a. PSTN voice telephony system.    -   b. Video conferencing system.    -   c. Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) system.    -   d. Wireless versus wireline system.

5. Statistical connection speed performance histories of availabletelecommunications resources and routes.

6. Statistical quality performance histories of availabletelecommunications resources and routes.

7. In the case of VoIP connections, the statistical quality performancehistories of available network servers and services.

A significant advantage of this approach over prior art is that when aconference call is initiated, the amount of time required to contacteach of the target conferees, and to finally connect all confereestogether for the call is dramatically reduced. In addition, since theout dialing of each conferee is done through a selectedtelecommunications resource (from among a plurality of availableresources), the probability of providing a best-quality and leastexpensive conference call is improved. Also, since more than a singleroute is available for contacting conferees, the possibility of aconference call (or portions thereof) being blocked due to call trafficoverloading or failure of telephone system resources is reduced.

Since dialing multiple conferees can be done in a parallel manner, thereis no requirement for the teleconferencing system to endure the delaysinherent with serial dialing through a single telecommunicationsresource. This is significant because the call setup and connectionprocess for existing telecommunications systems has a lower limit interms of completion time. This is due to current telecommunicationssystem design, which requires that a telecommunications switch receive asignal or message from the call initiator, which takes a finite periodof time to accomplish, followed by further required signaling betweenthe initial switch and a distant switch (which may directly ring atargeted telephone, or require connection through one or more otherswitches before a connection can be made to the target telephone). Eachlink through a telecommunications switch will add some minimumadditional amount of processing time to the call connection process.

If the teleconferencing controller must wait for connection to eachtarget conferee before out dialing to the next conferee on the list, thedelays associated with each connection attempt are serialized, therebycreating a situation where, predictably, the more target conferees thereare, the longer it will take to notify the entire conferee base and getthem all simultaneously connected into the call.

In the present invention, the conferees are simultaneously out dialedthrough multiple telephony resources in at least a partially parallelmanner. This means that, in the best case where each conferee is dialedthrough a separate telephony resource, the connection of all of theconferees to the conference call is completed when the slowestconnection is completed. A simple calculation shows that thissignificantly reduces the overall time required to establish anoperational conference call.

For example:

A conference call is initiated by a prior art conference call setupmethod by serially dialing each of 100 conferees to establish theirconnection to the call. Assuming an average call connection time of 6seconds for each conferee, the conference call becomes fully operationalafter 600 seconds (10 minutes). In contrast, a conference call set upusing the method disclosed in the present invention, using 100 separatetelecommunications switches for out dialing to the conferees (one switchper conferee), the conference call would be fully operational after only6 seconds. This provides a dramatic reduction in the conference callsetup time.

Considering the amount of time a conferee must wait (on hold) for aconference call to start using the prior art setup method, there is anotable benefit to the conferee in using the method of the presentinvention, since the on-hold time is nearly eliminated (in somescenarios, the on-hold time is eliminated entirely).

In an alternate embodiment of the invention, a teleconferencingcontroller can eliminate the need for an intermediate protocolconversion of the voice and data signaling. In this embodiment, theconferencing controller does not host the conference call, but ratherconnects all of the participating conferees to an external conferencehosting system. This alternate embodiment of the invention is configuredin a way that allows the conferencing controller to have directcontrolling access to telephony switches, causing the switches to outdial to the conferees in a coordinated, parallel manner. Theconferencing controller can either command the telephony switch toconnect the conferees to a specified telephone number (a conference inprogress or about to begin), or can command the telephony switch toaccess a local conference call setup list that specifies the dial outeffort parameters.

In another alternate embodiment of the present invention, theconferencing controller maintains a cross-reference list that identifiesconference call “groups.” When a conference call is triggered for anidentified group, the group identifier is used to determine whichtelephony switch(es) or VoIP gateway server(s) should be engaged toassist in initiating the call. Each of the selected switch(es) or VoIPgateway server(s) contains a local cross-reference list that associatesa group identifier with the task of making connection to one or morelocally listed conferees. The conferencing controller of this embodimentof the invention sends each selected switch or VoIP gateway a signal ormessage that identifies a specific conferee group, allowing that switchor VoIP gateway to handle the parallel out dialing of the confereescontained in a localized list. This further distributes the dial outeffort and reduces the communication bandwidth required forcommunicating the dial out information to the selected telephonyresources, thus reducing the overall time required to set up aconference call.

In a further alternative embodiment, the present invention can beimplemented as a telephony switch-internal configuration, where theparallel out dialing logic is contained and operated within thetelephony switch, and the switch's internal conferencing resources areused.

According to another aspect of the present invention a method ofproviding conference call connections includes initiating a conferencecall between multiple conferees using a conferencing controller, placingeach of the multiple conferees in a half-duplex listen only mode usingthe conferencing controller, and receiving a signal at the conferencingcontroller from at least one of the multiple conferees to request activeparticipation in the conference call. The signal can be a keypress inresponse to a prompt for an active response, a keypress to requestswitching to a full-duplex listen and talk mode. One or more of theconferees can then be switched to the full-duplex listen and talk modesuch as to ask questions or provide comments. The conferees requestingactive participation are preferably placed in a queue and a prompt isindividually given to the conferee before the switching occurs so thatthey know that they are active.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method forconferencing that reduces conference call setup time by simultaneouslyout dialing to multiple selected conferees through a plurality ofparallel communications resources in provided. The method includessubstantially simultaneously initiating connection attempts to aplurality of the multiple selected conferences, wherein at least two ofthe connection attempts are routed through separate available parallelcommunications connection resources. For each connection attemptresulting in an answered call, a determination is made as to whether theanswered call is answered by a person, a fax machine, or an answeringmachine. If answered call is answered by a person playing an invitationto the conference call. If the answered call is answered by a faxmachine, the connection attempt is ended. If the answered call isanswered by an answering machine, then a message is recorded or theconnection attempt is ended. The present invention provides forcontinuing to initiate connections during the conference call. Inaddition, the conference call can be broadcast such as over the radio orover a computer network.

According to another aspect of the present invention a method ofcontrolling conference calls is provided. The method includes initiatinga conference call between multiple conferees using a conferencingcontroller, placing each of the multiple conferees in a listen only modeusing the conferencing controller, receiving a signal at theconferencing controller from a plurality of the conferees requestingactive participation in the conference call, displaying a list of theplurality of conferees requesting active participation in the conferencecall, receiving from a user a selection of one of the plurality ofconferees who have requested active participation in the conferencecall, and placing the one of the plurality of conferees in a talk modeusing the conferencing controller. The location of each of the pluralityof conferees requesting active participation in the conference call maybe displayed. The location may include a zip code, city, state, and/orother identifier associated with a location.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method ofproviding conference call connections is provided. The method includesinitiating a conference call between multiple conferees using aconferencing controller, placing each of the multiple conferees in ahalf-duplex listen only mode using the conferencing controller,receiving a signal at the conferencing controller from at least one ofthe multiple conferees to request active participation in the conferencecall, monitoring a connection between the conferencing controller and acontrolling application, and notifying an operator if the connection isdisrupted. The step of monitoring may include calculating time since amost recent message is communicated between the conferencing controllerand the controlling application, and determining if the time is greaterthan a threshold value.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a system forholding a meeting via conference calling is provided. The systemincludes a conferencing controller adapted for initiating a conferencecall between multiple conferees and placing each of the multipleconferees in a listen only mode using the conferencing controller, andreceiving a signal from a plurality of the conferees requesting activeparticipation in the conference call. The system also includes asoftware application in communication with the conferencing controllerand adapted for displaying a list of the plurality of confereesrequesting active participation in the conference call and receivingfrom a user a selection of one of the plurality of conferees who haverequested active participation in the conference call and placing theone of the plurality of conferees in a talk mode using the conferencingcontroller.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of the preferred embodiment of thesystem hardware architecture of the invention as it interconnects toexisting telephony systems.

FIG. 2 is a simplified flow chart of the main loop of the controllingsoftware program of the preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 a is a simplified flow chart of one of n parallel confereeconnection processes of the conferencing controller server softwareaccording to the preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 b is a simplified flow chart of the automatic invitation processof the conferencing controller server software according to thepreferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 c is a simplified flow chart of the automatic active conferencecall handling process of the conferencing controller server softwareaccording to the preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram showing the interconnection ofsystem elements according to an alternate embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a simplified block diagram of the subsystem elements involvedwith using connection statistics according to the preferred embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram of an alternative arrangement ofthe invention's hardware architecture, where the conferencing controllerdoes not host the conference call, and data connections to telephonyswitches are made directly, without involving VoIP gateways or protocolconversion of voice between VoIP and traditional telephony protocols.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram according to one embodiment of the presentinvention to show processing of signals from other participants within aconference call.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram according to another embodiment of the presentinvention to show the strategy used to involve more people in an event.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a system according to one embodiment of thepresent invention to show expanding an audience.

FIG. 9 is a pictorial representation of one embodiment of a screendisplay for controlling next to talk functionality.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of one embodiment of a method of providingfeedback control of an outage of Internet service or anothercommunications service.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, a preferred embodiment of the invention willbe described. First, the overall hardware architecture and connectionswill be described, following which will be a description of theoperation of the software which controls the invention's hardware andprocesses. The specific embodiments set forth herein are merelyrepresentative of the present invention and the present invention is notto be limited to these specific embodiments.

Conferencing System Hardware High-Level Architecture

It can be seen that in the preferred embodiment of the invention, thereis an architecture that at least partially includes the elements shownin FIG. 1 of the drawings.

Now referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, it can be seen that there is asoftware program 110 operating to control teleconferencing controller101. Software program 110 contains conference call setup process 112,which is triggered when software program 110 detects a conditionindicating that a conference call should be started. Additionally,software program 110 controls the existence and operation of all of ninstances of parallel connection process 111. Available for access bysoftware program 110 operating (and preferably residing withinteleconferencing controller 101) is conferee list 113. Communicationsbetween software program 110 and conferee list 113 occurs throughcommunications path 114.

Teleconferencing controller 101 is connected to, and communicates with,a portion of a LAN/WAN/INTERNET 102 network through a data network usinga “voice-over-internet-protocol” (VoIP), or similar protocol via datanetwork path 107. Note that, while only a single connection is shown inFIG. 1 for the sake of simplification, in actual practice, for the sakeof redundancy and efficiency, one or more additional parallelconnections are typically used to connect these two entities.

It can also be seen in FIG. 1 that a plurality of VoIP phones or systems106 may be connected, each through a data network path 107, to a portionof the same LAN/WAN/INTERNET 102 network. Through these connections,teleconferencing controller 101 can communicate with these devices orsystems.

Still referring to FIG. 1, it can be seen that a plurality of protocolconverters 103 can also be connected to a portion of LAN/WAN/INTERNET102, each through a data network path 107. Each protocol converter 103handles the translation of signals and data formats between the selectedVoIP (or similar) protocol and a telephony PSTN switch or PBX 104. Eachprotocol converter 103 communicates with its associated PSTN switch orPBX 104 through a telephony interface path 108. Note that while aone-to-one relationship is shown as an example in FIG. 1 between aprotocol converter 103 and an associated PSTN switch or PBX 104, asingle protocol converter 103 can communicate with more than oneassociated PSTN switch or PBX 104, and conversely a single PSTN switchor PBX 104 can communicate with more than one protocol converter 103.

Finally, in FIG. 1 it can be seen that each PSTN switch or PBX 104communicates with each of a plurality of traditional voice telephones105 through a switch-to-phone interface 109. This link represents any ofthe available well known standard telephony interfaces between switchingsystems and telephones as well as any privately held proprietaryinterface between a telephony switch and its associated telephone base.

It is important to note that while both VoIP (or similar) protocolphones and standard PSTN voice phones are shown in FIG. 1 to indicatethat both can be accommodated simultaneously, the methods of the presentinvention are not limited to these specific protocols, and can bepracticed using any one or more of the available communicationsprotocols.

A software program 110, along with a conference call setup process 112and one or more parallel connection processes 111, operates to controlthe actions of teleconferencing controller 101, actuating the methods,functions and features made available through practice of the presentinvention.

While one or more conferee lists 113 are stored in a data storage mediumaccessible to software program 110 operating on teleconferencingcontroller 101, these conferee lists 113 are not necessarily storedphysically within the hardware of teleconferencing controller 101, sincewell known techniques in network technologies allow each of the lists toreside at any accessible network node. Each stored conferee list 113defines the targeted conferees for a predefined conference call, alongwith detailed parameters related to each targeted conferee. Some or allof the conferee-specific elements shown in Table 1 are stored for eachconferee in each stored conferee list 113. TABLE 1 Contents of confereelist LIST ELEMENT DESCRIPTION Conferee ID Used as a key to linkconnection statistics to this conferee. Conference call A list of theIDs of conference calls to ID list which this conferee is assigned.Remote Cache A network resource identifier that specifies where thisconferee's data is locally stored. Conferee name The name of the personwho is a target conferee. Conferee language The spoken language in whichany interactive messages will be delivered to this conferee. Messagemask A bitmapped filter that identifies which messages will be deliveredto the target conferee under various circumstances. Conferee telephonePSTN telephone number that will be used to number contact conferee whenusing classic voice telephone connection. Alternate telephone AlternatePSTN telephone number that number can be used to contact this conferee.Network address The network address to use for connecting this confereewhen using VoIP (or similar) protocol. Preferred contact The preferredprotocol (PSTN, VoIP, etc.) protocol to use when contacting thisconferee. Preferred network The preferred network to use when attemptingto contact this conferee. Preferred switch/PBX The preferredtelecommunications switch or PBX to use when attempting to contact thisconferee. Start time offset The amount of time to delay an attempt toconnect to this conferee.Conferencing Controller Software Overview

Now referring the simplified software flowchart in FIG. 2 of thedrawings, it can be seen that in the conference call setup process 112of software program 110 (operating to control teleconferencingcontroller 101), there is a starting point block 201. At this point,software program 110 is already operating on teleconferencing controller101, and there has been a trigger event or condition detected indicatingthat a conference call is to be initiated.

Since, to gain the claimed benefits of the present invention, thespecific method of detecting and interpreting an initiating triggerevent or condition and the specific method of identifying the applicableconferee list 113 is of no consequence, these details are omitted fromthis description of the invention. The present invention contemplatesthat any number of methodologies or approaches can be used as may beappropriate in particular situations. Generally, however, the presentinvention accommodates the initiating trigger and identification of theappropriate conferee list 113 in many forms. One example of this is thereception of a call from the conference call initiator thatautomatically identifies the caller (through the well known telephony“automatic number identifier” (ANI) signaling, or “caller ID”functionality), and thereby an associated conferee list 113.Alternately, a conference call can be triggered, and automatic selectionof the associated conferee list 113 accomplished by computer softwareprogram 110 when it recognizes that a predefined call initiation timehas arrived. Additionally, a user operating a network interface(traditionally, a web browser) can access an Internet or intranet webpage where an option exists to trigger a conference call to any of aselection of conferee lists 113. The actions of the user of this webpage are then communicated to software program 110 operating onteleconferencing controller 101, where the user's actions areinterpreted as a trigger to initiate a conference call setup process 112for the specified conferee list 113.

In the flowchart of FIG. 2 it can be seen that the beginning ofconference call setup process 112 is starting point block 201, whichconnects to preparation block 202, where conference call setup process112 accesses a pre-defined conferee list 113 that includes individualconferee parameters. Once conferee list 113 has been accessed, and therelevant data retrieved, conference call setup process 112 proceeds toprocess block 203 where conference call setup process 112 beginsgathering and recording individual conferee connection status data fromeach of the parallel connection processes 111.

At this point, conference call setup process 112 enters a tight loopthat includes process block 204, process block 205 and decision block206. In this section of conference call setup process 112, the softwaresteps sequentially through the entries of conferee list 113, and foreach conferee on the list, assigns one of n available parallelconnection processes 111 to manage establishment of maintenance of aconnection to the selected conferee. In this manner, conference callsetup process 112 is able to generate a simultaneous dial-out to some orall of the entries of conferee list 113 (since each of the assignedparallel connection processes 111 can proceed to connect to its assignedconferee without respect to any processing delays related to connectionto any other target conferee).

Specifically, in process block 204, conference call setup process 112selects the next conferee on the conferee list 113. Once this isaccomplished (and the associated data has been acquired for the selectedconferee), conference call setup process 112 proceeds to process block205, where the call setup and handling for the selected conferee ispassed to one of n available parallel connection processes 111. Alongwith this assignment, conference call setup process 112 passes to thisinstance of parallel connection process 111 any preferred connectionpath choices associated with the selected conferee that were retrievedfrom conferee list 113.

Once the call setup and handling for the selected conferee has beenpassed to an available parallel connection process 111, conference callsetup process 112 proceeds to decision block 206, where a test isperformed to determine whether the end of conferee list 113 has beenreached. If the test shows that there are more entries of conferee list113 yet to be processed, conference call setup process 112 returns toprocess block 204 for selection of the next conferee on the confereelist 113. Otherwise (all entries of the conferee list 113 have beenprocessed), conference call setup process 112 proceeds to process block207.

In process block 207, conference call setup process 112 informs theconference call administrator that the end of conferee list 113 has beenreached. Process block 107 also makes available, to the conference calladministrator, those connection statistics related to the call. Thesestatistics may include information about how many conferees arecurrently connected, have accepted an invitation to the call and arewaiting for the call to begin.

Once this is accomplished, conference call setup process 112 proceedsthrough connection point 208 and connection point 209 to decision block210 where conference call setup process 112 enters a tight loop thatincludes decision block 210, manual input block 211 and decision block212. In this loop, conference call setup process 112 monitors conditionsto determine whether to begin the conference portion of the call.

Specifically, in decision block 210 conference call setup process 112tests whether a predefined conference call start time has arrived. Ifthis time has not arrived, conference call setup process 112 accepts anymanual input signals that indicate whether a manual command to start theconference portion of the call has been received (for example, atraditional DTMF signal from one of the conferees or the callinitiator). This test is accomplished in manual input block 216. Oncethis test is completed, conference call setup process 112 proceeds todecision block 217 where control of the program is returned to decisionblock 210 if such a manual command to start the conference portion ofthe call has not been received (thus returning to the top of this tightloop). However, if a manual command to start the conference portion ofthe call has been received, conference call setup process 112 proceedsto process block 214.

If in decision block 210 it is determined that a predefined start timefor the conference call has arrived, conference call setup process 112proceeds to process block 213, where the call administrator is informedthat the start time for the call has arrived and the conference portionof the call is about to begin. Once this is done, conference call setupprocess 112 proceeds to process block 214, where a master call startsignal is sent simultaneously to every parallel connection process 111,thus causing all conferees to enter the conference portion of the call.Once all connected conferees are placed in conference mode, conferencecall setup process 112 proceeds to process block 215, where anannouncement is delivered simultaneously to all connected conferees thatthe conference call is now starting and the start time of the conferenceportion of the call is recorded.

At this point, conference call setup process 112 proceeds to manualinput block 216, entering a tight loop comprised of manual input block216, decision block 217 and decision block 221. In this loop, conferencecall setup process 112 monitors the conference call conditions todetermine when the call has ended (or should end). In manual input block216, a test is made to determine whether a signal has been received thatcommands conference call setup process 112 to end this conference call.The results of this test are evaluated in decision block 217, where, ifthe END CALL signal is received, conference call setup process 112 exitsthis loop and flows to process block 218, but if the END CALL signal isnot received, conference call setup process 112 remains inside thisloop, flowing to decision block 220.

Now following the flow of conference call setup process 112, when theresults of the test are that the END CALL signal is received, the flowgoes to process block 218, where all remaining conference callparticipants are notified that the conference call is ended. Proceedingon from there, process block 219 is entered, where a master END CALLsignal is sent to each active parallel connection process 111,commanding each to disconnect its portion of the conference call. Fromhere, conference call setup process 112 proceeds to process block 221,where the conference call is terminated (ended) and the termination timeof the conference call is recorded, whereupon the main loop ofconference call setup process 112 proceeds to process termination block222, where conference call setup process 112 is terminated.

Now, instead, following the flow of conference call setup process 112,starting at decision block 217, when the results of the test are thatthe END CALL signal is not received, the flow goes to decision block220, where it is determined whether more than zero conferees are stillconnected to the conference call. If there is a quantity greater thanzero of conferees still connected to the call, then conference callsetup process 112 reenters this loop by flowing into manual input block216. If it is determined, however, in decision block 220 that there arezero conferees still connected to the conference call, then conferencecall setup process 112 exits this loop, flowing to process block 221,where the call is terminated (ended) and the termination time of theconference call is recorded, whereupon conference call setup process 112proceeds to process termination block 222, where conference call setupprocess 112 is terminated.

Initiating a Call to a Conferee

Now referring to FIG. 2 a of the drawings, it can be seen that, fromstarting point block 223, one of n identical parallel confereeconnection processes 111 proceeds immediately to decision block 224. Indecision block 224 it is determined whether a command has been receivedto initiate a call to a selected conferee from conferee list 113. Notethat this instance of parallel conferee connection processes 111 is incommunication with conference call setup process 112, from which thiscommand to initiate a call is received.

If in decision block 224 it is determined that the command to initiate acall has not been received, the software re-enters decision block 224remaining in a very tight loop (effectively continuously monitoring forthe receipt of the command).

If the command to initiate a call is received, the software flows fromdecision block 224 to process block 225 where the received command datais parsed to retrieve the parameters related to the conferee that willbe contacted. Refer to Table 1, for a list of parameters that can bestored for each conferee in conferee list 113.

From process block 225 the software proceeds to process block 229. Inprocess block 229, the appropriate network is signaled (PSTN, VoIP, orany other type) to initiate a connection to the selected conferee (usingthe parameters acquired from conferee list 113) before the softwareflows to decision block 230.

Now in decision block 230 it is determined whether the target phone is‘busy’. If the target phone is busy, the software proceeds to processblock 231 where the call attempt is ended and a statistic for thisconferee is recorded that indicates that the conferee's phone was busyduring the attempt to contact the conferee. From process block 231, thesoftware flows to process block 228 where the calling program isinformed about the contact failure and of the availability of thisinstance of one of n parallel conferee connection process 111 to acceptanother call handling task. From process block 228 the software returnsto starting point block 223. If in decision block 230 it is determinedthat the target phone is not busy, the software proceeds to decisionblock 232.

In decision block 232 it is determined whether a ‘phone disconnected’message is received during the attempt to contact the selected conferee.If a ‘phone disconnected’ message was received, the software proceeds toprocess block 233 where the call attempt is ended and a statistic forthis conferee is recorded that indicates that a ‘phone disconnected’message was received during the attempt to contact the conferee. Fromprocess block 233, the software flows to process block 228 where thecalling program is informed about the contact failure and of theavailability of this instance of one of n parallel conferee connectionprocess 111 to accept another call handling task. From process block 228the software returns to starting point block 223. If in decision block232 it is determined that a ‘phone disconnected’ message was notreceived, the software proceeds to decision block 234.

In decision block 234 it is determined whether the call was answered inresponse to the attempt to contact the selected conferee. If the callwas not answered, the software proceeds to process block 237 where thecall attempt is ended and a statistic for this conferee is recorded thatindicates the call was not answered. From process block 237, thesoftware flows to process block 228 where the calling program isinformed about the contact failure and of the availability of thisinstance of one of n parallel conferee connection process 111 to acceptanother call handling task. From process block 228 the software returnsto starting point block 223. If in decision block 234 it is determinedthat the call was answered, the software proceeds to decision block 235.

In decision block 235 it is determined whether the call was answered byan answering machine in response to the attempt to contact the selectedconferee. If the call was answered by an answering machine, the softwareproceeds to process block 236 where the call attempt is ended and astatistic for this conferee is recorded that indicates the call wasanswered by an answering machine. From process block 236, the softwareflows to process block 228 where the calling program is informed aboutthe contact failure and of the availability of this instance of one of nparallel conferee connection process 111 to accept another call handlingtask. From process block 228 the software returns to starting pointblock 223. If in decision block 235 it is determined that the call wasnot answered by an answering machine, the software proceeds to processblock 238.

If the software enters process block 238, it indicates that a connectionhas been made and that the call has been answered by a person (not ananswering machine). In process block 238 the calling program is informedof the time that the connection was made. From the software flowsthrough connection point 239 and connection point 240 (shown in FIG. 2b), thereby entering the invitation process for this connection.

Invitation Process

Now referring to FIG. 2 b of the drawings, it can be seen thatconnection point 240 is the starting point for the invitation processused by one of n parallel connection processes 111. From connectionpoint 240 the software flows directly to preparation block 240, wheredata from conferee list 113 is accessed to determine the language andcontent of the outgoing message(s) that will be delivered to theselected conferee. Once this is accomplished the software proceeds toprocess block 242 where the selected spoken invitation is delivered tothe listener (including an option menu). At this point the softwareproceeds to manual input block 243 where listener responses to thedelivered menu are accepted.

Once the listener responses have been accepted, the software flows toprocess block 244, where the accepted responses are recorded and thenreported back to the calling program. From process block 244, thesoftware flows to decision block 245 where it is determined whether theinvitation to the conference call has been accepted by the listener.

If the listener did not accept the invitation, the software proceeds toprocess block 246 where the call attempt is ended and a statistic isrecorded that indicates that the conferee rejected the invitation tothis conference call. From here, the software proceeds to process block247 where the calling program is informed about the call rejection andof the availability of this instance of parallel connection process 111to accept assignment to another connection attempt. Following this, thesoftware proceeds through connection point 251 back to the top of theparallel process (connection point 223 shown in FIG. 2 a).

If, in decision block 245, it is determined that the listener did acceptthe invitation, the software proceeds to process block 252 where theconferee is placed on hold and the calling program is informed of theacceptance time for this conferee. At this point the software proceedsto process block 254 where it is determined whether a master call startsignal has been received. If a master call start signal has not beenreceived, the software proceeds to decision block 255 where it isdetermined whether the conference start time has arrived. If theconference start time has not arrived, the software proceeds to processblock 253, where an on-hold message or music is delivered to theconferee until the conference portion of the call begins.

Process block 253, decision block 254 and decision block 255 comprise atight loop that continues until either a predetermined conference starttime arrives or a master ‘call start’ signal is received. If either ofthese two conditions is met, the software proceeds to process block 256where delivery of the on-hold message or music is stopped and theconferee is connected to the shared conference call audio source (thusjoining the conference portion of the call).

From here the software proceeds through connection point 257 toconnection point 258 (shown in FIG. 2 c) where the active conferencecall handling process begins.

Active Conference Call Handling Process

Now referring to FIG. 2 c of the drawings, it can be seen that theactive conference call handling process starts in connection point 258.From here the software proceeds immediately to process block 259 wherethe software continuously processes signals generated by otherparticipants and signals generated by this conferee until the conferencecall is ended or the conferee disconnects from the call.

Process block 259 is part of a tight loop that includes decision block260 and decision block 261. In this loop, if it is determined indecision block 260 that a master ‘end call’ signal has been received,the software flows to process block 262 where the conferee is informedthat the conference call has ended. Once this has occurred, the softwareproceeds to process block 263 where this conferee is disconnected fromthe conference call. After disconnecting the conferee, the softwareproceeds to process block 264 where the calling program is informed ofthis conferee's disconnect time. From here, the software proceeds toprocess block 265 where the calling program is informed that thisconferee has disconnected and this instance of parallel connectionprocess 111 is available for accepting assignment of another callhandling task.

If, during the processing of the tight loop comprised of process block259, decision block 260 and decision block 261, it is determined indecision block 261 that the conferee is not still connected (theconnection was accidentally lost or the conferee intentionallydisconnected), the software proceeds to process block 264 and proceedsas described earlier.

Alternate Interconnection of System Elements

Now referring to FIG. 3 of the drawings, it can be seen that, in analternate embodiment of the invention, for any of n protocol converters103, there are two new elements and one new communications path added tothe architecture. These new elements enable protocol converter 103 tolocally store (in local converter conferee data storage 301) some or allof the data contained in conferee list 113. Protocol converter 103accesses data stored in local converter conferee data storage 301 vialocal storage access path 302.

In this embodiment of the invention conferee list 113 is accessed byprotocol converter 103 through a portion of a LAN/WAN/INTERNET 102network using an appropriate data protocol via instances of data networkpath 107.

In this arrangement, protocol converter 103 accesses conferee list 113to acquire the data for one or more listed conferees. This data isstored in local converter conferee data storage 301 for later access.This distribution of data from conferee list 113 allows the parallelnature of the call setup process to become even broader. In thisconfiguration, software program 110 can, through any of n parallelconnection processes 111, send a single command to an instance ofprotocol converter 103, thereby causing that instance of protocolconverter 103 to start its own internal process of performing a parallelconnection effort to contact those conferees that are locally stored inlocal converter conferee data storage 301.

Because each instance of protocol converter 103 can have multipleinstances of telephony interface path 108, though which communication isestablished with an instance of PSTN switch or PBX 104, protocolconverter 103 can initiate multiple connection attempts in parallel.Thus, protocol converter 103 can convert protocol for multipleconversations occurring through each instance of PSTN switch or PBX 104as it communicates with each traditional voice telephone 105 through aswitch-to-phone interface 109.

Since, in this embodiment of the invention, protocol converter 103already has a stored version of the information necessary to contact itspre-assigned list of conferees, parallel connection process 111 does notneed to resend this information. Instead, a much shorter message is sentthat provides a unique conference call identifier, triggering protocolconverter 103 to start the internal process of establishing contact withthose pre-assigned conferees that are associated with the specifiedconference call.

Software program 110 determines which instances of protocol converter103 have a locally stored copy of data from conferee list 113 byaccessing conferee list 113 through communications path 114, and thendiscovering which conferee records have a non-blank ‘Remote cache’field. A non-blank ‘Remote cache’ field will contain the identity of theremote network resource where information about this conferee is stored(locally cached). In this manner, software program 110 can assemble alist of remote instances of protocol converter 103 that must becontacted and triggered with a short command when initiating aconference call. Of course this does not limit the ability of softwareprogram 110 to simultaneously utilize the same instance of protocolconverter 103 for initiating individual connection attempts as is donein the preferred embodiment of this invention.

Using Connection Statistics

Now referring to FIG. 4 of the drawings, it can be seen that thesubsystem elements involved with using connection statistics are shownalong with their interconnection scheme. This subsystem handles theacquisition and management of conference call connection statistics.Additionally, this subsystem contains statistical analysis routine 401,which analyzes the gathered statistics and uses the results of theanalysis to modify the contents of conferee list 113. The changes madeto conferee list 113 are intended to improve overall connection timecoordination (minimizing the time that will elapse between connection ofthe first conferee to a conference call and the connection of the lastconferee to the same call).

While minimizing the total time elapsed to connect all conferees to acall is important (and appropriately addressed by the presentinvention), it is also very important to insure that the firstconnectees to the conference call not be required to wait any longerthan necessary for the conference portion of the call to start.Surprisingly, this may mean slowing down (increasing) connection timesfor specific conferees in order to insure that their actual connectiontime coincides with the connection times of other conferees. Forinstance, if the statistical information about conferee ‘A’ indicatesthat a connection to this conferee takes an average of 12 seconds, andthe statistical information about conferee ‘B’ indicates that aconnection to this conferee takes an average of 6 seconds, theconnection attempt for conferee ‘B’ can be delayed by 6 seconds(relative to that of conferee ‘A’) to cause both conferees to beconnected at the same time. As shown in Table 1 (contents of confereelist), a “Start time offset” parameter is included for each conferee.This parameter can be modified as appropriate for each conferee on thelist to best coordinate connection times.

Now referring once again to FIG. 4, it can be seen that communicationsbetween software program 110 and conferee list 113 occurs throughcommunications path 114. During the conference call setup process,software program 110 accesses conferee list 113 to acquire, for eachconferee on the list, the parameters related to making a connection withthat conferee. Refer to Table 1 for a list of the preferred confereeparameters. These connection parameters are modified as necessary by thesubsystem depicted in FIG. 4, based on the results of analysis ofconnection statistics gathered previously during the process of settingup conference calls involving conferees contained in conferee list 113.

Referring now to Table 2, a list of possible elements of statisticaldata that can be used by statistical analysis routine 401. These data,as well as others, can be used by the invention when analyzing theresults of previous connection attempts to conferees. TABLE 2 ConnectionStatistics STATISTICS ELEMENT DESCRIPTION Conferee ID Links thesestatistics to a specific conferee. Network used The network that wasused when contacting this conferee. Protocol used The protocol that wasused when contacting this conferee. Switch/PBX used The switch or PBXthat was used when contacting this conferee. Phone number/ The telephonenumber or network address Network address (for VoIP or similarconnection) that was used when contacting this conferee. Connectionstatus The status of the telecommunications connection attempt (did theselected network successfully connect to the target conferee's phone, orwas a busy or other non-connect signal encountered?). Connection timeThe time that elapsed between the time that the selected network wassent the appropriate signals/data to initiate the connection and thetime that the selected network signaled that a connection wasestablished (phone is now ringing). Ring time The amount of time thatthe conferee's phone rang before being answered. Call accepted? Did theconferee accept the invitation to the conference call? Conferee Theamount of time that elapsed while the interaction time conferee wasresponding to the automated invitation process.

Now referring once again to FIG. 4, it can be seen that software program110 sends statistical data related to each conference call to connectionstatistics storage 402. Statistical analysis routine 401 accessesconnection statistics storage 402 to acquire historic statistical datafor analysis.

Statistics storage 402 stores the statistical data in a format that isunderstood by software program 110. The statistical data stored instatistics storage 402 can come from sources other than software program110. This subsystem accommodates the manual input of data 403, as wellas automated importation of connection statistics stored in an externalsystem 404. Through the use of statistics transfer routine 405 anautomated process of converting externally sourced statistics into aformat understandable by software program 110 is implemented. Statisticstransfer routine 405 also stores the converted data in statisticsstorage 402. In this way, the advantages of the statistical analysis areexpanded by allowing inclusion of statistical data from other sources.

Similarly, statistical data stored in statistics storage 402 can beexported to external system 404 through the use of statistics transferroutine 405.

As an additional benefit, the statistical data stored in statisticsstorage 402 can be converted to an appropriate format and exported toexternal applications 406 via statistics transfer routine 405. In thisway, external systems can utilize the data for their own purposes.

Once a statistical analysis has been performed, and the entries inconferee list 113 have been modified, software program 110 will use thenewer parameters contained in conferee list 113 when attempting toconnect to any of the listed conferees.

Non-Hosting Conference Controller Arrangement

Now referring to FIG. 5 of the drawings, it can be seen that, in analternate embodiment of the invention, the requirement is eliminated forincluding a protocol converter 103 and telephony interface path 108(both seen in FIG. 1 as elements of the hardware architecture of thepreferred embodiment of the invention). Additionally, in this embodimentof the invention, teleconferencing controller 101 does not host theconference call. Instead, teleconferencing controller 101 simply sets upthe call that will be hosted on another device (such as an instance ofPSTN switch or PBX 104).

In the alternate embodiment of the invention depicted in FIG. 5, it canbe seen that there is a software program 110 operating to controlteleconferencing controller 101. Software program 110 containsconference call setup process 112, which is triggered when softwareprogram 110 detects a condition indicating that a conference call shouldbe started. Additionally, software program 110 controls the existenceand operation of all of n instances of parallel connection process 111.Available for access by software program 110 operating (and preferablyresiding within teleconferencing controller 101) is conferee list 113.Communications between software program 110 and conferee list 113 occursthrough communications path 114.

Teleconferencing controller 101 is connected to, and communicates with,a portion of a LAN/WAN/INTERNET 102 network through a data network usingan appropriate switch communications protocol via data network path 107.A plurality of PSTN switches or PBXs 104 is also connected to a portionof LAN/WAN/INTERNET 102, each through a data network path 107. Each PSTNswitch or PBX 104 communicates with each of a plurality of traditionalvoice telephones 105 through a switch-to-phone interface 109. This linkrepresents any of the available well known standard telephony interfacesbetween switching systems and telephones as well as any privately heldproprietary interface between a telephony switch and its associatedtelephone base.

In the alternate embodiment of the invention depicted in FIG. 5, thecommunications protocol used between teleconferencing controller 101 andPSTN switch or PBX 104 accommodates teleconferencing controller 101instructing PSTN switch or PBX 104 to initiate calls to specified PSTNtelephones. Conferee list 113 is used by software program 110 to erminewhich PSTN switch or PBX 104 is used to contact each listed conferee. Inthis embodiment of the invention, instead of only providing PSTN switchor PBX 104 with the connection information related to the targetconferee, software program 110 also provides information that identifieswhere the conference call is being hosted, so PSTN switch or PBX 104 canestablish a connection between the target conferee and the resource thatis hosting the conference call.

Returning to FIG. 2C, step 259 illustrates processing signals generatedby other participants.

After participant joins the conference call, he/she is placed inhalf-duplex listen only mode. At the same time system is ready toreceive and react on signals generated by the participant's phonekeypad.

If the signal is one of the known and expected by the system, the systemwill perform appropriate action associated with the signal. For example,user may be allowed to switch to full-duplex mode and be eligible totake active participation in the event like providing comments or askingthe questions. As another example, user can be asked to vote onparticular issue. People who agree have to press one (or any otherpredefined key which corresponds to YES), people who do not agree withthe statement will press key associated with NO. There could be moreanswers than just YES and NO depending on the question and provided setof possible answers. The time devoted for the gathering responses couldbe limited on per question basis.

In a particular implementation, users are offered to press the pound keyto ask the question. The amount of participants that can ask questionsat the same time (full-duplex mode) is configured per call and currentlyis one. The rest are placed in waiting queue and will be allowed to askthe question in order they were placed.

The conference manager/provider can see how many people are in thequeue, their basic information. The system also has ability to monitorthe time during which each participant has full-duplex access andparticipate in the call. The event manager has also ability to removeparticipant from a queue or force out of active status.

The system also has the ability to register when user was already infull-duplex mode and prohibit the same user getting in that mode secondtime.

The system whispers the prompts before participants actually placed infull-duplex mode. It greatly reduces confusion when people do not knowif they still are in passive waiting mode or already “on the air”.

If the signal is unknown or unexpected by the system, it will be ignoredand system will wait for the next signal.

FIG. 6 provides more detailed description with respect to how actionsfrom other participants are handled by the system. Based on actionperformed by the participant 6oo, the system makes a decision 603 of thenext action that has to be performed. If participant hung up the phone1076, then the system marks that participant is no longer active andregisters information related to the fact that participant left thebridge 610. It includes but is not limited to registering statisticaldata related to the call and resource management.

If the participant still stays on the phone in step 604, the systemanalyses the generated input. If the participant pressed any key on aphone keypad 605, the system will perform action associated with thepressed key. If that action was not pressing the key, the system willreturn the participant to step 601 and will wait for new action.Currently only pressed key and hang up are actions are action analyzedby the system. The present invention, however, contemplate that othertypes of actions may also be analyzed.

If the action was a pressed key 605, the system will check if that keyis currently associated with an action 611.

If the pressed key is not associated with any action currently expectedby the system 609 the key will be ignored and system continues listening601 for input from the participant.

If the pressed key is associated with the action currently expected bythe system 612 the system will perform according to the request fromparticipant 613. For example, if it was a request to ask the question616 the participant will be placed in a block designed to handlequestions from participants 617.

Strategy to Get More People on the Conference Bridge

The present invention also contemplates that once a conference call hasstarted, additional people can be added. It was found that amount ofsimultaneous dials per district has to be limited to avoid overloadinglocal access and reduce total cost of operations. It means that insteadof just dialing for two minutes and starting a conference call with thenumber of people who could be collected during that time, an alternativestrategy allows for the benefits of beginning the conference call with asubstantial number of participants and then continuing to addparticipants during the conference call. The methodology includes:

1. System starts mass out-dialing. When call is answered, system checksif it is a real person, fax or answering machine;

-   -   a. Real person—plays invitation and offers to accept it or not.    -   b. Fax machine—marks as a fax machine and hangs up.    -   c. Answering machine—records appropriate message or hangs up.

2. After short period of time—2-3 minutes, “star” speaker joins theconference and starts his story.

3. System continues dialing. In most cases it changes prompt from “startshortly” to “joint in progress”.

4. During dials some calls may fail. Depending on failure, the numberwill be called again. The examples are busy, no-answer. System may callthe same number more than twice.

5. After calling list is completed with all possible redial cases, orsome predefined time before end of planned conference call (whateverhappened first) system stop dialing process.

One embodiment of a process for involving more people in the event isshown in FIG. 7. As shown in FIG. 7, after dialing started 701 systemcheck if original minimum time for the startup dialing 702 expires. Ifnot, it checks if we got minimum amount of participants for speaker tojoin the event. If start timeout didn't expire and minimum amount ofparticipants was not reached, system continues dialing 701 till any ofthe events 702 or 705 occurs.

As soon as any of events 702 or 705 occurs, speaker joins the event 708.Other conditions can be added to the check to trigger speakerparticipation. After speaker joins the event, the system continuesdialing 709. That process will continue until we process all list 710have been called and there are no more numbers to redial 714. It ispossible that system finishes dialing before speaker joins the event.This may occur in cases when the system completes the dial list in avery short time for example. After all numbers are dialed the event maycontinue 716 for some time.

Expand Audience of Participants by Deploying Different Mass-MediaServices

The present invention also contemplates that mass-media services can beused for expanding the size of an audience. The actual call may be ofinterest to more people than were actually included in the dialing list.To expand the potential audience, the system has the capability ofbroadcasting the event over the Web, Radio or any other broadcast mediasystem. As a simple solution, the system can out dial a provided phonenumber that is connected to a broadcast system.

The system can also provide dial-in number, so people who missed theoriginal call or were listening over third party broadcast media service(radio for example) have an opportunity to join the call from the phoneand ask the speaker a question or otherwise actively participate in theconference call.

FIG. 8 provides additional details about an embodiment for expanding theaudience beyond the provided dial list. In FIG. 8, the teleconferencingcontroller 801 is connected over WAN 802, 803 to the mass broadcastsystem 806. A regular telephone system (PSTN) or Internet or someproprietary wide area data network 803 is connected 802 to ateleconferencing controller. A Mass Broadcast System 806 is connected805 to the same controller over the same network 803. The Mass BroadcastSystem can be, without limitation, a radio broadcast system, a TVbroadcast system, and a web broadcast system.

The main conferencing event is sent over the connection 802, 803, and805 to the Mass Broadcast System 806 which retransmits it to multiplerecipients 807. At the same time multiple recipients have the ability todial phone number(s) and join conference 804 directly. That connectionis similar to one that is provided to people that join during outdialing process.

Therefore a system and process for a mass telephony conference call hasbeen described. That which has been described is merely exemplary. It isclear, however, that the present invention provides for numerousdifferent features to provide for mass conferencing call. Of course, thepresent invention contemplates numerous variations in specific structureand methodology.

Controlling Next to Talk

FIG. 9 is a pictorial representation of one embodiment of a screendisplay for controlling next to talk functionality. The presentinventors have identified a need to choose “allowed to talk” usersoutside of a regular queue. For example, a speaker may want to havethree users from one particular city discuss the needs of thatparticular city. Alternatively, the speaker may want to select a callerfrom a completely different location to change the topic. Of course,there are other potential advantages and uses for being able to selectone person as the “next allowed to talk” instead of a simple first inline, first to talk queue order. There may even be a need to removesomebody from the queue all together.

In the screen display 900 of FIG. 9, a conference timer 910 is shown forshowing the duration of the conference. In addition a status indicator912 is shown which indicates whether one is connected or if theconnection has been dropped. Information about the conference isprogress is also presented. Example of such information may include thetotal number of people joining the conference call 916. The number ofmessages left 918 in attempts to add additional people is also shown.Also shown is the number of people currently in the conference 920 aswell as the number of people waiting in queue 922 for talking. Aspreviously discussed, conferees may be asked questions. A questionssection 924 is provided for managing the process of presenting questionsand compiling the responses. A start button 926 is provided to beingasking the questions, a stop button 928 is provided to stop the askingof questions, and a configure button 930 is provided to change theconfiguration of the questions.

The next to talk selection control 932 is shown. Note that a number ofconferees who wish to talk including conferees 934, 936, 938, 940, 942,944. The user interface allows a user to select any one of the confereesin the list and allow them to talk by pressing the allow to talk button950. The duration of their speaking opportunity is shown with a timer948. Note that it is intended that conferees speak for a relativelyshort time period as implied by the scale for the timer 948 whichextends only to two minutes. Information about the conferee talking isprovided, including the name 954 of the conferee talking and thelocation 956 of the conferee talking. At any point while the talkingconferee is talking, the disallow to talk button 952 may be pressed toend their talking.

At the bottom of screen display 900, dialer information is provided. Anindication of the estimated minutes used, the number of people dialed,and the number of people left to be dialed is shown. A phone number maybe entered and dialed with control 958. A button 960 allows a call to besent to voice mail. A dial control includes a start button 962 and aclear button 964. That which is shown in FIG. 9 is simply one embodimentof a screen display for a system performing an event. Numerousvariations in the type and specifics of the user interface arecontemplated.

Notification in Case of Service Outage

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of one embodiment of a method of providingfeedback control of an outage of Internet service or anothercommunications service. In step 1000 the system exchanges messages withthe controlling application. In step 1002, the time since the lastmessage is received is calculated. In step 1004, a determination is madeas to whether the time is greater than a threshold time. The thresholdtime may be set at any reasonable amount of time, such as a few seconds.If the threshold time is reached, then this is indicative of a problemin that messages are not being sent or received. When this occurs, thenin step 1006, dialing is stopped and in step 1008, an operator isnotified. The operator may be notified in any number of ways, includingover the internet or other medium, via a phone call, page, or othermethod. The feedback control of FIG. 10 prevents an operator of thesystem from being unaware that there is a disruption in services.

That which is shown is merely exemplary. The present inventioncontemplates numerous variations and alternatives which are within thespirit and scope of the claimed invention.

1. A method of controlling conference calls, comprising: initiating aconference call between multiple conferees using a conferencingcontroller; placing each of the multiple conferees in a listen only modeusing the conferencing controller; receiving a signal at theconferencing controller from a plurality of the conferees requestingactive participation in the conference call; displaying a list of theplurality of conferees requesting active participation in the conferencecall; receiving from a user a selection of one of the plurality ofconferees who have requested active participation in the conferencecall; and placing the one of the plurality of conferees in a talk modeusing the conferencing controller.
 2. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising displaying a location of each of the plurality of confereesrequesting active participation in the conference call.
 3. The method ofclaim 2 wherein the location includes a zip code.
 4. The method of claim2 wherein the location includes a city.
 5. The method of claim 2 whereinthe location includes a state.
 6. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising receiving from the user an indication to disallow the one ofthe plurality of conferees from talking.
 7. The method of claim 6further comprising returning the one of the plurality of conferees tothe listen only mode using the conferencing controller.
 8. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising returning the one of the plurality ofconferees to the listen only mode using the conferencing controller. 9.The method of claim 1 wherein the conference call is a town hall meetingevent.
 10. A method of providing conference call connections,comprising: initiating a conference call between multiple confereesusing a conferencing controller; placing each of the multiple confereesin a half-duplex listen only mode using the conferencing controller;receiving a signal at the conferencing controller from at least one ofthe multiple conferees to request active participation in the conferencecall; monitoring a connection between the conferencing controller and acontrolling application; and notifying an operator if the connection isdisrupted.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of monitoringincludes calculating time since a most recent message is communicatedbetween the conferencing controller and the controlling application, anddetermining if the time is greater than a threshold value.
 12. Themethod of claim 10 wherein the connection is disrupted by loss ofinternet service.
 13. The method of claim 10 wherein the signal is akeypress in response to a prompt for an active response.
 14. The methodof claim 10 wherein the signal is a keypress to request switching to afull-duplex listen and talk mode.
 15. The method of claim 10 furthercomprising displaying a list of at least one of the multiple confereesrequesting active participation in the conference call.
 16. The methodof claim 15 further comprising receiving from a user a selection of oneof the conferees who have requested active participation in theconference call.
 17. The method of claim 16 further comprising placingone of the conferees who have requested active participation in theconference call indicated by the selection into a talk mode.
 18. Themethod of claim 15 further comprising displaying a location for each ofthe at least one of the multiple conferees requesting activeparticipation in the conference call.
 19. The method of claim 18 whereinthe location includes a zip code.
 20. The method of claim 18 wherein thelocation includes a city.
 21. The method of claim 18 wherein thelocation includes a state.
 22. The method of claim 10 wherein theconference call is a town meeting event.
 23. The method of claim 10wherein the conference call is a political event.
 24. A system forholding a meeting via conference calling, comprising: a conferencingcontroller adapted for initiating a conference call between multipleconferees and placing each of the multiple conferees in a listen onlymode using the conferencing controller, and receiving a signal from aplurality of the conferees requesting active participation in theconference call; a software application in communication with theconferencing controller and adapted for displaying a list of theplurality of conferees requesting active participation in the conferencecall and receiving from a user a selection of one of the plurality ofconferees who have requested active participation in the conference calland placing the one of the plurality of conferees in a talk mode usingthe conferencing controller.